"Anne Thomas Manes" <anne@manes.net> wrote on 03/15/2003 06:11:32 PM:
> The biggest issue I have with Ugo's definition (and all the others) is
that they tie synchrony
> with blocking versus non-blocking. Synchronous means "at the same time".
Asynchronous means "not
> at the same time". Whether or not the sender has to wait idly for a
response is a separate issue.
>
> An interaction (one-way, two-way, or multi-way) is synchronous if the
sender and receiver must
> communicate at the same time (the reciever must be available to receive
the message when the
> sender sends it). A one-way message is asynchronous if the sender and
receiver do not need to
> communicate at the same time (the message may be stored and delivered at
a later time).
>
> Anne
Precisely.
<snip/>
Christopher Ferris
Architect, Emerging e-business Industry Architecture
email: chrisfer@us.ibm.com
phone: +1 508 234 3624